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I started getting into stock photography about 1999-2000 with a view to doing that in retirement (from the US federal govt), and retired at the end of 2002. Even within those few years, I ran through the whole sequence of submitting slides / scanning slides / toying with digital / going all-DSLR / and finally selling off DSLR stuff and going mirrorless. I was submitting heavily after getting a DSLR, but my submissions have become much smaller in light of more grandchildren and less return on stock.

 

I originally decided on stock because it meant I could shoot what I wanted to shoot, on my schedule, and that's what I'm still doing. It's a creative outlet for me, and I don't let it become a source of stress.

 

And +5 on becoming mouse-idextrous. Been doing that for years, long before the stock photography.

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...

 

So I'm slowly building up my photography portfolio for stock and when I've got my head around being retired at 50 I might start doing other photographic things (like commissions) as well. 

 

One thing I would say is that life is short, you never know what's around the corner, and you must absolutely do what you enjoy doing. 

 

I have restarted my photographic busisness, sort of based around news and  stock, and I wasn't looking for commissions as I want to retain flexibility to travel. I started full time in September and I have already had one small commission (I was shooting the event anyway) which should lead to another commission for a day next March. It pays to be open minded and prepared.

 

I absolutely agree about doing what you love. I have returned to photography after early retirement from large scale project management due to the financial crisis; I was 59 but I didn't realise for a couple or so years (no one had toild me I had retired) with my own health problems. I am treating photography as a full time occupation (work even, albeit largely unpaid so far) and loving it. In fact the painful negative rerank seems to have been a godsend as it has forced me to think afresh and is driving me to aim higher, much higher - I am suddenly energised. In my heart I knew it wasn't working ; I had seen the signs for what was wrong but I needed the kick and the advice of a colleague here to get me out of my somewhat unhappy comfort zone. Out of adversity etc ...

 

Don't think about it - just go for it - find a way. Whatever IT excites you.

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One thing I would say is that life is short, you never know what's around the corner, and you must absolutely do what you enjoy doing. 

 

Absolutely agree. It sounds cliched but it's really true - we don't know what is around our corners. 

 

I hope you are/will be ok with the medical condition. This is not meant to sound flippant but it could be worse - it could have been malignant. I have experienced things like this  several times in life where things seem bad but could have been much worse - easiest seen in retrospect. 

 

There are few things worse than doing something you dislike/hate. You shouldn't have too much difficulty getting your head around the retirement thing (as long as you have the means to survive of course). Freedom comes very naturally. I retired from my last job 6 years ago when I was 54 and I can honestly say I had no problem adjusting to freedom. I spend most of my time doing photography either out in the field or in front of the computer, together with reading about the things that interest me most - (natural history in its broadest sense I guess). But these years have flown, really flown. There are never enough hours in the day. That is amazing - the complete opposite to clock-watching. 

 

Wishing you the best of luck

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So many great replies!  I'm 62 now and retired my commercial photography business this year, also due to decline in work.  I've decided I still need to shoot and I get tremendous satisfaction from others liking my work enough to license an image, so I'm keeping my hand in stock.

 

Like others I downsized to mirrorless (Fuji), which I really enjoy.  My attitude now is; it gets done when it gets done.  No worries, no stress, if I don't finish key wording this evening.    

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I'm still not sure what aspects of retirement (or working) worries you, Sparks. But let me comment on comfort while working. I do street photography here in NYC, so that means walking and moving and being active. And I do Tai Chi. I also write, and that keeps my mind active. After retiring from 35 years of assignment photography and then spending 5 or 6 years ghost writing film, TV and advertising music I got a two-day a week job as a copy editor at a magazine. 

 

On the day I retired from my retirement job, I bought an office chair someone suggested. "You don't want a chair with arms," my friend said. "It causes you to slump." So now I sit with my lower back pushed against the chair . . . and part of the day I write standing up, alla Hemingway. 

 

http://www.containerstore.com/shop?showDS=true&Ns=default&Ntt=office+chairs&submit=

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As necessary as it is, employment really gets in the way of doing what we enjoy and what we want to do. I retired 16 years ago and I'm now so busy enjoying myself and doing the things that I never had the time to do before. Waking every morning without the pressure of work load and deadlines is something to behold.

 

I don't worry about what to do, I worry about fitting it all in in one day!

 

p.s. I forgot to say - I moved Country and started life all over again!

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Again THANKS to all. :)

 

Have been reading all the replies and appreciate the good advice.

 

January 2015 doesn't seem so daunting after all...the photography & submissions will continue but at a more pleasant pace.

 

It looks like a topic that's been good.

 

Regards

 

Sparks!

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I 'retired' 7 years ago at 54 after 31 years in local government (planning) taking redundancy and early retirement. I could draw my pension straight away but it isn't enough to keep me in the style i've become accustomed to! So I started a business drawing up and submitting planning applications, and at the same time I started submitting images to Alamy.

 

Eventually I hope the income from Alamy will overtake that from the planning jobs - although at the moment i'm earning 10x more from planning than Alamy.

 

My daily 'commute' is now from one bedroom to another! I don't know how I found time to go to work!

 

I keep active by taking the dog for her daily walk, which also involves, during the summer, doing a transect for Butterfly Conservation. This involves counting (and taking photos of!) the number and species of butterflies seen on a set walk (the transect). I also do watercolour painting, gardening, travel, drinking beer - and even sleeping!

 

John.

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England and Sweden are my two countries. Sweden, one of the richest and most high-tech countries in the world! here they strangle the pensioners almost beyond existence. The idiots just voted away their Conservative government ( who managed to make Sweden even wealthier after 8 years in power).

Now we are stuck with a a Social-democratic party who have proved themselves totally useless for decades.

 

After this election, Sweden became the laughing-stock of Europe.

 

 

BTW. if all our stock-agencies had got their act together instead of short-term profit thinking. What better pension then stock could one ever imagine? Thats what Tony-Stone told me 25 years back. He was right but it turned out wrong.

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I have absoloutely no concept of the term 'retire'. I am as busy now as I have ever been since I started working in photography full-time at 15. 52 years later I'm still 'at it' full time. Engaged in my own self-initiated projects which involve travelling, publishing and exhibitions etc. Plus I'm engaged in research projects with a couple of university research centres wearing my academic photographic hat. I'm lucky not to have any major aches and pains which is just as well as my main camera for my serious work is the 10" x 8" which I hump around on my back. Mirrorless??!! (Maybe I'm fit just because I hump a 10" x 8" around plus all the related gear. Don't need a gym!) Photography is my way of life, not just a living and has been since I was 11. Luckily folks around the world still want my work and original prints and I'm also lucky to work with galleries and dealers who are happy to continue to work with me. 

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Hi Sparks

 

For me the difference between work and retirement is that now I can do what I enjoy rather than what I have to do to keep the wolf from the door. My advice is to make the most of every day and keep very active doing what you like best. Aches and pains, ignore them or join me by the pool in Florida. Bit windy today but everything has its downsides.

 

dov

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I thought the pensioners in Cananda was being paid more then anywhere else. Thats what your government leads us to believe anyway.

I turned official "retirement" age (65 in Canada) earlier this year, and after looking at my miserable pensions, I realized that I will never be able to retire (not even sure what that word means). In addition to photography, I tutor high school students as I have a checkered teaching background as well. I used to do a lot of freelance writing and have considered getting back into it. However, given the current state of the publishing industry, I'm thinking that it ain't worth the grief.

 

 

Canada is doing well at looking after us oldsters according to this article. Still, my pensions evaporate very quickly.

 

P.S. The UK almost made the top 10 list, coming in at number 11.

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Like all a lot of people here, I too will not see 60 again.

 

I do photography for fun and don't plan it or read about it, unless I have to learn something, like say, Lightroom.

 

The serious stuff I have to do is write music to order for music publishers and will continue to do that forever or until I am physically/mentally unable to do so. Having gone to the Royal College of Music when I left school way back many years ago, photography was present then and is still a source of having to concentrate on 'something else' for an hour or so, which takes your mind off other things. It's not a natural thing so requires a different type of concentration as anyone who has done another job would probably agree.

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